Climate change and mental health: Emaswati express eco-anxiety
THE climate crisis is adding to the already-escalating cases of mental health illnesses.
Climate change has proven that it not only degrades the quality of life- but that it is becoming a driver to fuelling anxiety among people and some members of the public have confessed to it to this publication.
Known as eco-anxiety, or climate anxiety, is a sense of panic, worry and fear inflicted on people due to climate-related events. According to the public health education website, people find themselves not only anxious but angry and sad about the state of the planet. The term was officiated in 2007.
According to TIME USA, Google searches related to ‘climate anxiety’ are at a record high after steadily increasing over the past five years, the search giant said in an email to TIME.
Searches worldwide related to ‘climate anxiety’ and ‘eco-anxiety’ increased by 4,590% from 2018 to 2023, according to the company’s data. The two most commonly Googled questions were “What is ecoanxiety?” and “How to deal with climate anxiety?”
In Eswatini, the increase in eco-anxiety became significant in the years 2015 and 2016, when there was water rationing in Mbabane due to the El Nino Draught that scorched dry the Hawane Dam. Also, it was during this time that constant worry
3 and anxiety were imposed on emaswatiwhen crop and livestock farming was assassinated by the aforementioned natural disaster.
Last December, close to hundreds of homes were destroyed during hailstorms in the areas of Ngculwini in Manzini and Mpolonjeni in Mbabane- rendering them homeless. Since then, emaswati cringe, and express their discomfort towards announced heavy rains.
During interactions on the streets, many with stated emaswati how the
3 uncertainty in weather patterns caused them to worry- discouraging them from making any long-term plans.
My work centres around weather conditions and the unpredictable weather patterns not only affect my emotions but also my finances. There was this time I was booked for an outdoor maternity photoshoot in Mhlambanyatsi. The weather forecast had predicted a sunny day but we woke up to heavy rains. We had to opt for a studio shoot- and such events are now frequent in my line of duty.
The climate catastrophe has been problematic of late and it continues to be an ongoing problem because you literally do not have the comfort of relying on the weather forecast anymore. This mainly affects those who do not own motor vehicles. In general, I like clothes and I consider myself to have a good fashion sense but recently, I have been compelled to wear clothes depriving me of wearing 3 my loin regalia.
Nakiwe
Weather does get me anxious, especially with the rapid weather changes. You’re now never even sure about the seasons, it rains in winter and summers are just too hot, you can’t even breathe. Last summer, everything was normal and we were sitting under a tree and suddenly a heavy storm came.
We ran to our houses and 15 minutes later, electricity poles were down, big trees were struck down by the wind and most houses around us were without roofs. What shocked me the most was that the weather forecast had given the opposite prediction. That day was supposed to be
skin
or my
traditional
Eswatini sunny and hot, but out of the blue a heavy storm came and people’s houses were destroyed. We were left without electricity for almost five days because the damage was just too bad.
One Saturday morning I set off to attend a wedding in Big Bend (the eastern part of Eswatini known for its high temperatures) as a master of ceremonies.
I was so casual it was just the beginning of spring and from Manzini it was cool hence I didn’t think of a jacket knowing where I was going it was usually hot. When I got to the place it was cold, I shivered right through the whole event and surprisingly everyone came prepared. I hated myself that day.
SATURDAY, May 25, marked the 61st annual Africa Day. This day celebrates the official founding of the historical Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union (AU), back in 1963.
The month of May is also hailed as an African month across our beautiful continent. This is in honour of the founding fathers, and mothers, of the OAU.
Africa Day, at its essence, is dedicated to the celebration of the rich cultural diversity, the expansive economic potential, and the tremendous triumphs achieved by the nations of Africa. It is not only celebrated in various African countries but also across the Diaspora.
At its onset, it was a celebration and commemoration of the boundless strides made by the OAU in the fight against colonialism and apartheid. One of its key objectives is to acknowledge the progress that has been made in Africa, whilst reflecting upon the common challenges faced by the continent in the broader global context of today.
The theme for this year’s Africa Day, presented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), alongside the pre-launch of the African Union, is to “Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.”
In the 1960s, at the time of the initiation of the OAU, only 17 African countries had achieved independence. The OAU was instilled through the collaborative efforts of several prominent intellectual heads of state who were also leading Pan-africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, to name a few.
They collectively took up the cause of advancing the Pan-africanist movement, whose agenda was to collaborate as they fought for the total liberation of Africa from colonial domination.
Today, Africa Day is dedicated to the founding members of the OAU, whose dream was to strive for the attainment of a united Africa at peace with itself. They sought to build a new Afri- ca that would represent a dynamic force in the global arena, and more especially, to fight against all forms of imperialism.
During Africa Month, numerous events are held all over the world to showcase the victories of the African liberation movements, and to immortalise the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign exploitation and subjugation.
They also inspired countless pan-african revolutionary movements such as Robert Sobukwe’s Pan-african Congress of Azania (PAC), Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement, and the Africa Women Conference, the activism of the globally regarded “founding mother of Pan-africanism” - Alice Kinloch, as well as the work of Jeanne Cissé in Guinea, to name a few.
Pan-africanism has, and continues to have, a significant impact both inside of Africa and in the African Diaspora. It is the promotion of a shared identity, a sense of community, and a shared brotherhood that bolsters collaboration and overall development amongst African people all over the world.
pIn the modern era, Pan-africanism largely takes place in the digital world. Thank Thanks to the internet, countless tools tool are created to better learn, practice, p and share information and ideals. Ultimately, Africans across the world are transgressing the boundaries of space and t time in advancing the objectives of th the Pan-africanist moveme movement. The rate of exchange of ideas, values, k knowledge, and entrepreneurship is higher today than ever before.
What then, could be h hindering the progressio gression and demonstration of true Pan-african
3 ism in the world? A key challenge within Pan-african discourses is that the African political class is suspected to govern according to Western models and interests, with no truly “contextualised” development projects, and an intentional dismissal of the needs and voices of African populations.
Opposition parties, the media, and independent thinkers are oftentimes violently suppressed, leading to a shrinking intellectual space for genuine dialogue and critical thinking.
Authentic Pan-africanism rejects the notion that human rights are dispensed from the top by governments. Rather, it demands that citizens exercise constant vigilance, make an active and informed effort to collaborate with Africans to bolster development, and acknowledge the inherent commonalities that African people share to propel democracy and unity of purpose.
Africa, and its descendants, are extremely diverse. The African continent is crammed full of unparalleled resources and minerals. It is for this reason that African nations (and the control of their resources) have been rivalled over for centuries.
Foreign interference and nefarious powers rely on instability in African nations to further their abominable causes. It is high time that African people use the resources at their fingertips to fight for their land, their people, and their interests.
Pan-africanism is not only a socio-political and cultural movement, but also an economic, political, and developmental movement that views Africans all over the globe as a single entity. It speaks directly to continental integration and economic freedom. African people can empower themselves, influence the society around them, and shape the futures that they want to see. As powerfully said by revolutionary activist and author of “The Azanian”, Thabiso Monkoe: “The reason why lions hunt successfully as a pride, is reason enough for Africans to unite.”
BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia - Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent a two-hour operation on Friday that has increased hopes for his recovery, a deputy prime minister said, following an assassination attempt this week that sent shockwaves through Europe.
Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak also said any decision to transfer Fico back to the capital Bratislava from the central city of Banska Bystrica where he is being treated would only be taken when there had been further improvement in his condition.
“It will take several more days for us to know definitively which way it is going,” Kalinak told reporters outside the Banska Bystrica hospital. “I think the surgery today... will allow us to move closer to a positive prognosis.” “I am in a better mood because I see there is progress. It is still very serious but for me hopeful.”
Miriam Lapunikova, director of the hospital treating Fico, said he was conscious and stable in the intensive care unit after the operation, which removed dead tissue from his wounds. Fico also underwent hours of surgery on Wednesday soon after being shot five times at close range.
Slovak police have charged a man with attempted murder. Local news media say he is a 71-year-old former security guard at a shopping mall and the author of three collections of poetry. There has been no official confirmation of his identity.
Police have conducted an hours-long search of the suspect’s home in the central town of Levice with him present, according to TV Makriza. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet and carried a plastic bag and other items.
Armed police, also wearing bullet-proof vests, patrolled outside his home. FEBRILE POLITICS
The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader for more than 20 years and has drawn international condemnation. Political analysts and lawmakers say it has exposed an increasingly febrile and polarised political climate both in Slovakia and across Europe.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a political ally of Fico, told public radio on
Friday that even if the Slovak leader stages a full recovery, he will not be able to work for months - and this at a critical time for the continent, which faces elections for the European Parliament in early June.
“We are facing an election that will decide not just about members of the European Parliament but along with the U.S. election can determine the course of war and peace in Europe,” Orban said.
Fico and Orban have both criticised the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia.
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